Once A Saint - Declan O'Brien

The 2009 domestic campaign was certainly one to forget for the Saints faithful. Despite this, we embarked on one of the most memorable European runs the club has ever had.

A mid-season signing of a league stalwart and natural goal scorer played no small part in helping the club achieve on the continent that summer.

Declan “Fabio” O’Brien arrived at St Pat’s in July 2009 on-loan from Dundalk. Fabio as he was affectionately known had joined Dundalk from local rivals Drogheda at the beginning of the season but for one reason or another, things hadn’t worked out.

O’Brien had spent 7 years with Drogheda having joined from amateur football and won the First Division title in his maiden season. Fabio soon donned the armband for the Drogs and won an FAI Cup in 2005, added to a League and Setanta Cup double in 2007, pipping the Saints who finished second in the league that year.

“Jeff (Kenna) enquired about me to Gaz Rogers, I wasn’t happy at Dundalk and everyone know that at the time, so it was a perfect fit” O’Brien explains.

“That squad that year was unbelievable when you look at the individuals, Ryan Guy, Glen Fitzpatrick, Mark Quigley, Gary Dempsey, Bobby Ryan and Gaz

Rogers who went on to have an unbelievable career after that.”

“It was a short stint at Pats but a memorable one, it’s a time people ask a lot of questions about as you’ve mentioned with the quality in the squad and the European run.”

That European run took us from Malta to Russia and unfortunately ended in the RDS to

Romanian powerhouses Steaua Bucharest. Fabio scored home and away against both Valletta and Krylya Sovetov to help setup the glamour tie for the Saints. The fourgoal haul made Declan the record European goal scorer for the club until Christy Fagan surpassed him in 2016. The European games still hold a special place in O’Brien’s career but did leave him pondering what might have been.

“I think the European run was up there with any Irish teams run when you look at the quality of Sovetov and even the home tie against Bucharest, we had them rattled for a while until they got a late goal. I think it was one all when Alan Cawley hit the bar to go 2-1 up with twenty minutes to go, that would’ve changed the whole tie.”

“For me personally scoring goals in most ties, playing well against Bucharest, it was a bit disappointing over there with no fans in the ground, we re-jigged the team up and didn’t play the system we had been playing. I was up top usually but on the righthand side, so I didn’t have a chance to add to my run of goals from midfield. That was a bit disappointing but overall it was a fantastic few months, some great camaraderie among the players and those trips are where you get most of the memories and we certainly had a few of them.”

A move to Valletta after his St Pat’s stint was then on the cards, although a deal to go England and re-unite with former Saints assistant Paul Peschisolido at Burton was also on the table. Roddy Collins was managing Floriana in Malta at the time and O’Brien had a brief spell playing a couple of trial games there before meeting with Jordi Cruyff at Valletta, son of the great Johan Cruyff.

Ultimately, the professional set up and deal on offer at Valletta, along with the quality of players and the allure of working with Cruyff was the deciding factor. With a young family at the time, the change of scenery was welcomed and a year in the sun was coupled with two cup successes.

There is one anecdote which Declan likes to recall about his time in Malta and a brief mention of a footballing god.

“There’s a funny story I tell people about Valletta. Jordi asked me to go to the cinema one of the first nights, Avatar I think was on. It was me and Jordi with another player, a Cameroonian international. Jordi’s phone rang and he excused himself and answered the call, next of all we heard him